Archive for the ‘Dick Swanson’ tag

We’re not sure exactly where along Market Street Dick Swanson took this photo in August 1973 for the Documerica project, but we appreciate the diversity – Beetles, buses, vans, and land whales, among others, populate the scene in abundance. What do you see here?

In the mornings we’d sometimes float down to the overpass and wait as the waves of traffic flowed past below, all quiet in the wakening world, until we’d hear them. Distant at first, we shaded our eyes with our hands to see them, then a great disturbance in the surface of the highway and headed our way. The pod of land whales bellowed on their cushy suspensions, their tires rang out on the macadam as if calling to each other, and the magnificent herd of massive migratory machinimals wallowed under us to start another day. (Photo taken by Dick Swanson for the Documerica project in August 1973. What do you see here?)

The above photo, taken by Dick Swanson in August 1973 for the Documerica project, isn’t much of a carspotting image, but I still find it compelling enough to include here – that kid looks so street smart, so one has to wonder what he’s doing, walking alone down a street past a lineup of cars at least as old as him. For a more conventional street scene, we’ll turn to another Swanson photograph, also taken that month in Philadelphia, of the Schuykill Expressway. What do you see here?